On a good day, parenting will test the integrity of your character. On a bad day, parenting will test your will to live. Parenting children with trauma histories will cause you to test the integrity of everything and everyone you thought you knew, for the rest of your life.~J. Skrobisz

Monday, August 5, 2013

PLACE YOUR BETS!

Tomorrow is the first day of school for the kids and teacher orientation for me. AB has been pacing for days. Sissy is acting like a one year old. WG is so excited she can't stand it.

All I can think about is that on Wednesday I'll be prepping for class in a quiet house.

As far as summer's go, this has actually been a good one. Sissy didn't have her typical summer depression and AB's med changes have made a huge improvement in his mood and willingness to communicate. We've had fun, it's been crazy, we've shouted at each other and laughed with each other and splashed each other in the pool. We've had a trip to the ER for a bandaid (seriously, it looked like AB's leg had been splayed open and they gave him a BANDAID), we've met a new psychiatrist, we've made new friends, we've cried and slept. We've slept alot. Get-our-lazy-butts-out-of-bed-at-noon kind of sleeping.

Just now, AB and WG came in here and started a spontaneous light saber fight. AB hasn't played with his light saber in over year so that is totally cool!!!! Now, if only he would break out the legos or go swing without his music, I think the world might stop spinning for a pico second.

On Saturday I got some much needed help when a home group from a local baptist church that is affiliated with my school came over in droves and knocked out some major yard work and household fix-it chores. For the first time in 19 months, I didn't have to mow my yard!

Every rose has it's thorn though. Sissy is back to the general public school. The middle school misplaced her referral for the Emotional/Behavioral disability classroom and unless I want her marked truant while they sort it out, I have to send her to the middle school. PLACE YOUR BETS! I'm giving her two weeks before she's getting a suspension. Winner gets a cool mini quilt to hang.

I'm serious about that.

Really.

I mean, if I have to send my mentally ill daughter to the regular school where the staff is going to complain about her mental illness until the county agrees that she doesn't need to be in that setting, we might as well make a game of it, right? Because when she has three days of OSS and I'm the one dealing with her in the house or in my classroom for those three days, knowing that I have friends behind me will make it easier.

AB just walked past me to head outside with his subwoofer speakers and a mini digital recorder.

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About me

About Me

Mom to an adopted sibling group. The oldest, Sissy, suffers from severe mental health issues and autism spectral disorder compounded by reactive attachment disorder as a result of her first year with her biological mother, abused, neglected and deprived. AB or affectionately, Autism Boy, also suffers from mental health illness in addition to a genetic disorder called F-G syndrome. WG or Wonder Girl, battles anxiety and anger as a result of living with two older disabled siblings and all of the nuances of this unique family dynamic.

We live in a subdivision in a bustling community fifteen miles outside of a major metropolitan area in Georgia. As the caregiver, bread winner, and custodial parent, my challenge is to keep the peace in the puzzles my children tend to be.

Jennie 42

Sissy 17

AB 16

WG 12

Carbon the dog 3

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